A stitch in time…well, a stitch in time takes time. And it keeps you from other things like writing a pretty regular weekly post that’s been a fairly consistent routine for the last five years. Oh, and there were the three graduations and a wedding, trips to NY and CA, lots of wedding . . . → Read More: Stitches

Here is the bleak midwinter scene the creative arts team installed at Encounter/Bible Fellowship Church last week. Concurrently, a dear friend, Hannah Frances Devol Thomas, released her debut CD In the Bleak Midwinter. The image and carol’s poetry have stirred in me a quiet waiting this Advent.

Thanksgiving is a season of gathering gratitude, spreading it feast-fashion around a table to be shared with family and friends…as well as the groaning table of festive foods that takes days to prepare and minutes to consume. It’s one of my favorite meals to cook. And one of my favorites to eat. But . . . → Read More: Grateful Hearts

It began with a simple question, How do you mix yellow? Well, Ashley, you don’t. It’s a primary color. But that set me to thinking. Over the last few years the Lighthouse art cabinet has been stocked with lots of small bottles of acrylic paint in lots of different colors. I’ve never taken . . . → Read More: Mixing It Up

The garage is full of sawdust. It drifts down the driveway, eddying along the used brick until the next gust goads it further on. Blond dunes of maple plywood dust accumulate on the washer and dryer. Power tools and extension cords are strewn across every flat surface. The garden barrel is full of . . . → Read More: Otherwise

During a recent writing group, Lois read a piece from a 4th grade student who had written of the gifts she would give to people suffering from the effects of Katrina or the earthquake in Haiti. The gifts were movingly symbolic, none really tangible objects that could be wrapped in decorative paper . . . → Read More: Gifts I’m Sending…

This week many of us will gather with grateful hearts around groaning tables to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast with family and friends. I thought I would share four new pages I’ve recently posted on my spiritual autobiography . . . → Read More: Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

At a recent writing group the prompt offered us was to write about “blue.” As we read our quickly written results, more than one of us commented, “Why didn’t I think of that one?” Once home I found the quick writes lead to a more leisurely process of revision and refinement. My list . . . → Read More: How Does My Garden Grow

Several years ago my computer crashed big time. When everything was being reinstalled we could’t find the disk of fancy fonts I’d used for years. Occasionally now I come across a document that’s indecipherable because the particular font I’d used is no longer installed. Usually I can figure out a word or short . . . → Read More: Otherwise – Everyday Gratitude